Want a peek into our grocery cart? Here’s how I’m grocery shopping and feeding eight people on the cheap. This post may contain affiliate links. When you make a purchase through those links, I am paid a small amount in advertising fees. Thanks for your support. I really appreciate it. September and October are generally […]

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This Single Crust Pot Pie comes together quickly, particularly if you’ve got holiday leftovers. Be sure to add it to the rotation for this holiday season. What says cozy, cold-weather dinner than a chicken pot pie? I’m not sure there is anything more comforting. Flaky pie crust, creamy sauce, succulent chicken and veggies – what could […]

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Celebrate the season with a festive Kale Salad with Red Grapes, Almonds, and Scallions. It’s quick and easy to pull together. This is the season when it’s easy to overindulge. I mean, cookies, cakes, and pie? Oh my! I had no trouble going back for a second plate of turkey dinner. Or a second piece […]

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Celebrate the season with a festive Kale Salad with Red Grapes, Almonds, and Scallions. It’s quick and easy to pull together. This is the season when it’s easy to overindulge. I mean, cookies, cakes, and pie? Oh my! I had no trouble going back for a second plate of turkey dinner. Or a second piece […]

Pantry Challenge 2014: Day Four

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This month I’m doing a Pantry Challenge. For two weeks, I’m focusing on using up what we have to save money and time and to reduce waste.

Today was a very tasty day, if I do say so myself. Hubby worked today, so it was just me and the kids.

I did a little bit of prep toward future meals, created a new type of granola. It’s low on the sugar which I kind of like. The kids had no complaints so I guess we’re good. Recipe coming soonbut mostly just made our meals and moved on.

The highlight of the day was probably taking the leftover chocolate cookies and the leftover homemade ice cream and putting them together for ice cream sandwiches. Yay!

I’m slowly but surely checking things off the freezer inventory. It’s so NICE to know what I have!

Breakfast: Cranberry Bread, Not-Too-Sweet Granola

Lunch: Sunbutter Sandwiches, Smoothies, and Carrots for the kids; Salad for me, using up last night’s leftovers

Dinner: Homemade Pizza, Carrots, Ice Cream Sandwiches

This post is a part of the Pantry Challenge where we’re trying to save money on food by using up what we have. I’ll be posting daily updates on how the challenge is going.

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Breakfast: mochas and french toast (I only make that 2 or 3 times a year, but I had some bread going moldy so this finished off the useable parts of the loaf)
Lunch: cheese quesadillas
Dinner: 15-bean and ham soup with leftover baguette
Dessert: Christmas candy

It seems a little counter-productive to take a small bag of beans and a small packet of frozen ham bits to then produce a huge crockpot full of soup that will require us to either eat nothing but bean soup for the next several days or to take up space in the freezer that I am trying to clear out. 🙂

Trust me I feel the same way! Sometimes during the pantry challenge I feel like the things I cook add as much to the freezer as I take out. Especially because it is just the two of us so I freeze leftovers often so we don’t get tired of them. If you do the full month though you will be glad you saved some of those beans for later just for the sake of variety.

Right there with you CeCee, this weekend I made homemade cinnamon rolls (twelve of those delicious things) and lasagna with whole wheat penne that could have fed eight. And there are only two of us, so back in the freezer leftovers go. Although those cinnamon rolls might be gone soon.

Day four: my hubby cleaned out the fridge for me and I didn’t supervise at all (due to injury). I’m normally a hover-er during things like that, but I just didn’t have the physical energy. The boys all went to the park while I rested. I slept through breakfast due to pain medicine.

Lunch: turkey sandwich with spinach
Dinner: brought to us by a good friend- Chili -it was yummy. My hubby baked a potpie I had premade and frozen so we don’t have to be in the kitchen tomorrow at all.

Boy I must still have been under the weather last night as I commented under day 3 not day 4. I am trying not to put anything back in freezers so no major pots of anything to be made! Anyway. See day 3 for day 4 eats 😉

Day four:
Breakfast – Nutella toast and coffee
Lunch – Hubby’s uncle passed away so we ate at the luncheon after the service
Dinner – Hot pork roast sandwiches, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas Yeah!! the end of the leftovers

Did make a grocery store run for milk, produce and cheese. $30 spent for the month

Notations: The pineapple was past it’s prime so the 5year old didn’t eat it. Why do little ones insist on taking the pig OUT of the blanket?
Hulk juice is my version of the green monster smoothie that my superhero obsessed boys gobble down. The basic ingredients are spinach, pineapple and banana, then I add any juice I may have on hand, additional fruit and sometimes yogurt. The kids go crazy for this stuff, which I used as leverage when we were driving home from the store and passed a McDs. Crying started, I mentioned hulk juice, the rest is history. We avoided a meal out, YAY! And the pineapple that left something to be desired got used up without a single bat of the eye.

We had green smoothies yesterday, too! My kids love them (heck, so do I). I cut up a pineapple a few days ago and froze it. That has been a great addition to our smoothies. I also successfully added a carrot to ours.

I didn’t but I used my immersion blender. If I was going to use my regular blender (I don’t have a vitamix or anything fancy), yeah I’d probably grate it and blend it with the greens and liquid before adding the fruit.

L: kids had trail mix, Goldfish (a Christmas gift from my grandma), bananas that are getting pretty spotty, and green smoothies. I have a bunch of fresh spinach and frozen fruits and kale. I had some smoothie, too.

I was out most of the afternoon running errands so I grabbed Chipotle on my way home for a late lunch/early dinner for my husband and I. That comes from a separate category than groceries.

D: I made the kids pumpkin pancakes with the last of the open can of pumpkin. It wasn’t quite enough so I threw in some leftover roasted sweet potatoes from dinner a few nights ago and used my immersion blender to purée everything together. We are out of maple syrup so I added a few chocolate chips. I’ll use the leftover pancakes to make them sandwiches this week.

I had one pancake and some cheese as a snack. My husband didn’t eat anything else after the Chipotle.

Day 4:
Breakfast: last of the muffins from the freezer; milk; apple slices
Lunch: Panko Spicy Brown Chicken Tenders with asst. fresh berries
Dinner: Had a planned, late Christmas celebration with family friends at Longhorn Steakhouse

If the weathermen are correct, today will be an inside day so I am planning on an afternoon of baking to restock the freezer with breakfast items — muffins, bread, granola.

I finally inventoried the deep freeze! (It’s in the garage and the temps are below freezing, but I’d put it off long enough)
B baked oatmeal with pear (don’t add pear, it gets mushy!)
L various leftovers
S shepherd’s pie and rolls from the freezer

Yeah, I thought it would be more like reorganizing, but I didn’t know I had SO MANY bags of frozen peaches or the bag of forgotten fruit cups:) Into the meal plan they go! Oh, and the temps are below 0, not just freezing:)

Day 4: Breakfast was veggie burritos with eggs and cheese, using bell pepper and onion from the freezer. Lunch was leftover falafel in pita with tomato and avocado with tabouleh, and dinner was roasted cauliflower with Indian bbq sauce, baked sweet potatoes, and leftover ham for the kids.

Day 4: We all slept in again. Getting back on track is proving to be really rough.

breakfast: Those of us who were awake before noon had Cheerios w/milk and bananas,
lunch: a scrounge/on your own affair. I had turkey sausage, cheese and crackers, and yogurt. I know, random. No clue what the others ate… I was busy looking through recipes for new ideas, doing laundry, etc.
dinner: pasta with chicken and a creamy herb-garlic sauce made from light alouette cheese & broth. So easy and good! side of green beans (pantry/freezer/sale items)

Was happy to look through recipes finally. Have some great new ones to try in the coming month or so. Only need a few fresh ingredients to pull them off. Plus I’m going to attempt some really new items (a soufflé.. I think I’ve only made one my entire life, and falafel, which I’ve never tried to make). I also had a good workout and watched my son play really well in an indoor soccer game that was scheduled for 9:20pm on a saturday night! All in all a good and productive day. 🙂

It’s freezing here in New Jersey and there’s so much snow and ice on the roads so we’re all pretty locked down for the weekend.
Breakfast: My hubby had homemade waffles, sausage and clementines
I had 1 lowfat English muffin, and clementines

Lunch: We had no time for this today; hubby was busy cleaning the garage and I was busying cleaning inside. What else is there to do when the weather is so crummy? 🙁 We are working on a puzzle that we started last night.

Dinner: I had so many lemons in the fridge from several dinner parties over the last few weeks for lemon water so I used them up and made lemon chicken, wild rice, and roasted brussel sprouts. For dessert, I made crème brulee. Now I am starting to prepare breakfast and lunch for my hubby since he brown bags both meals everyday. My pantry is in the garage and my olive oil froze out there. I had to put the bottle in warm water to bring it back to life. You’d think we live in Alaska. Ha Ha. 🙂

Hi! I'm Jessica. I love Jesus, my six sweet kiddos, and my husband of 22 years. I write cookbooks, blog posts, and multiple to-do lists. I also make a pretty good dinner that won't cost a fortune.
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